Today something very interesting happened. I wanted to make a worksheet to practice:
「I have..... 」 and 「Have you.... ?」
Example: I have played tennis. Have you played tennis?
So I wanted to put some Japanese on the worksheet to help out the students. Essentially I wanted to write:
Statement: I have....
Question: Have you... ?
I already know how to say 'question.' But I didn't know how to say 'statement.' So I tried looking it up in a dictionary, but they only listed statement in the sense of a statement made by an official. But I was looking for the grammatical term, because in English there are four kinds of sentences: statements, questions, exclamations, and commands.
So I wrote out an explanation with Japanese and English and asked one of my English teachers how to say statement in Japanese. She looked confused, thought for a moment, then said she didn't know. I thought maybe I didn't explain it well. The teacher said she understood what I was trying to say, but she didn't think such a word existed in Japanese. So we asked one of the Japanese language teachers if she knew a word. She agreed, no such word existed in Japanese.
「I have..... 」 and 「Have you.... ?」
Example: I have played tennis. Have you played tennis?
So I wanted to put some Japanese on the worksheet to help out the students. Essentially I wanted to write:
Statement: I have....
Question: Have you... ?
I already know how to say 'question.' But I didn't know how to say 'statement.' So I tried looking it up in a dictionary, but they only listed statement in the sense of a statement made by an official. But I was looking for the grammatical term, because in English there are four kinds of sentences: statements, questions, exclamations, and commands.
So I wrote out an explanation with Japanese and English and asked one of my English teachers how to say statement in Japanese. She looked confused, thought for a moment, then said she didn't know. I thought maybe I didn't explain it well. The teacher said she understood what I was trying to say, but she didn't think such a word existed in Japanese. So we asked one of the Japanese language teachers if she knew a word. She agreed, no such word existed in Japanese.